THE SIX-HOUR MYSTERY

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1930, Page 4

THE SIX-HOUR MYSTERY

By

ANTONY MARSDEN

Kai'in guessed that /she .was makingfor the cellars then; but.at the einl,. just, round the corner of.'the staircasfing,- she pulled open a narrow little, door and drew him in after her. It wasa housemaid’s cupboard, or - larder for which she had made—a tiny four-foot cell, boxed in from the end, of the pas-; 'sage by a wooden partition. A small square pane of frosted glass, breasthigh, showed a faint blur of light. The

woman reclosed the door without a- ■ sound, and the two stood, there shoulder to shoulder, hardly daring', to- breathe. ■ The steps were now inside the hall. Karin and Marie heard the front door softly shut. Then the, faint click of the., electric switch reached tlieir ears; and Kariu, glancing down, saw a thin line oflight beneath the door, at' his' feet. There followed a, rnuttei" of Voices, indistinguishable, from the far.end of the. hall. The steps came nearer, down thb passage; a board creaked, and someotie ... brushed against' the wooden partition. Karin’s hand closed upon the gun in his pocket; the steps had paused outside, m and just for one taut second it seemed that their retreat was discovered. Then came the sharp click of a latch —that of the 'heavy door which gave on the cellar-stair, opposite. Then Woolcrofts’ deep, bass,, unmistakable; within a foot, of Karin’s head: "By 1 -T-, we’ll soon have the truth now,. . anyway.” . ■ ■ * The next, sound was that'of boots on stone, as the new arrivals descended towards the cellar—two of therii, Karin jud„/d, though he could- not be sure, were carrying.something heavy, so oddly heavy and ‘shambling was their gait. Th„ey. had,, reached the cellarnow, but . the low murmur of their .voices .came up to him still. They had. left the stair • dcor/open, . . ' The brill lights/>vere still;-oh. their faint, . raidiajic^/showing under /the illflttjng door-" '/..■-' .'Karin,/'moving gingerly,' sought high and’ low' along the jrimb for. a peephole; party settled',down it should .boj.-possible to slip along-the hall y and out, b,y the front door; but-he mustf see. the coast clear ' first. . \ - The door was flimsy and/11-hung; alittle manpulation, and he could straini - jt :at the jamb enough to see out. Marie Bressler, he recalled,' had forced the. ~‘ .window of the upper, room that evening, arid had presumably some instrument. ■ His lips sought her ear..- -y; "‘Knife? Jemmy.?” he-breathed. ’• " • .But. she stood facing the' small win- • do w now, and he could hear a. faint rasp/ ing sound.' “Wait,”-she whispered back ,' to /him,; and resumed her task, , Karin reflected- .rapidly, ’• -‘We’ll, soon: '' have the timth now,” he.had croft say. That could 1 mean one thing only, as he interpreted it. Nash hadpulled off the bluff they had proposed—' namely, he had convinced the crooks' that the precious measurements were in safe deposit in London? One of them— Jakes, or the third partner, “Eddy”— must have gone up to town with Nash or Irma, or both of them, to be handed the 'document, which meant, if Nash ■ played the bluff out properly, a good half-hour’s more delay before Woolcroft learned by phone that he had been dup-,

ed. And that half-hour was plenty for Karin’s needs, if he could only reach ' the other house down-river, while Wool&i;.vroft...stayed..hero, ipa.ctiye, But he xnustunake his,get-away-without raising..the alarm. . The footsteps re-ascended' the stairs., i The faMt sound which Marie Bressler niade/eeased promptly. Once more their escape was intercepted. But the • inter-. <jdptor, whichever it was, came only as ~- far as .;the-stairhead, arid .there slammed the top door. His steps 'as he returned downstairs/ were Scarce audible, amt : when a fainter slain told the two raid-'.' ers .that the; lower door was closed also,,- ' ■ ■ the murmur of voices from the cellar. * .was . completely 1 cut. off. Karin turned' '; round and whispered to the' woman ( again. ; ; “We chance it, yes?” . .-; There was just light enough by the j small window for him to see the quick . shake of her head. t “Not that way,” she murmured, i “See!” 6 ,-She thrust into Karin’s hand the r • thick screwdriver she had been using;’, I next moment she lifted away the little, j window frame bodily, and placed it cauv ■<-. tiously. on the floor.' “Safer, eh ?” she; .f breathed. ,t

Karin peered' out. The hole was at' easy dropping distance from the ground;; iiot more than a foot or. two above the tops of the bushes. He drew back. “You can,” he whispered. “I must go as we- came—” And he went on inurgent haste, his lips- close to her ear.:“The other-house —Moat ;House? You know it from .the river:?” “Couldn’t miss it!” she whispered back to him. “Downstream-r-a' hundred yards below the island—right next the rails of a park—and one big cedar tree alone, this, end of the lawn.” “A cedar! Listen, then. You drop out, yes. Take my spade from the hole and wait near the launch. I’ll join you there as soon as. these folk-—” He ; broke off, and she felt the sudden tightening of his grip on her wrist; for from behind "them, without warning, sounded the sharp click of the latch of the stair door, and voices, as the two men . returned. * * * * The raiders waited motionless. Once more, however, the footsteps passed their, hiding-place and retreated along, the. hall. Then followed- a period df breathless waiting. . Voices first, a low-murmur of hurried argument from the far end of the passage; then came the click of the switch again, and the light at Karin’s feet disappeared. He thought he heard the halldoor softly closed, but of that he could not be sure. Meanwhile the low voices ■ went on talking-, indistinguishable in the dark. In a few minutes, unmistakable tliis time, the snick of the hall door. Then the lights up again, and . a smothered exclamation of surprise from somebody. A moment afterwards the muttered colloquy seemed to come to an end. Once more the footsteps tramped along the passage towards where Karin crouched listening; and with them camo some- . thing fresh—a' faint purring sound, which baffled him completely, till a slid- • den scrape and clatter against the very door, within an inch of his face, ejilight- ; ened him. It was. a bicycle, which some- 1 one. had wheeled down the hall and prop- ; ped against the partition. . . Karin, drew a breath of relief. At 1 least the dumping of a bicycle against i his hiding-place was some assurance, i that the larder was not about to be in- < vaded. The stair door clicked open once 1 again, and ho heard Woolcroft’s voice: ] “Get on down. I’ll follow you.” Someone went down the steps. Wool- t croK himself was hurrying back towards t the front door. But there were three t men now, Karin swiftly realised; for c the soft, muttering talk at once began! again at the far end of the hall'. Karin <

;• drew Marie Bressler close to him. ■' “They make'a night of it, I fear bet- • ter. go. now—^at. once. I follow when I >' cam But remember, little friend, when I i jimi what I seek, I buy Nick Marlow’s ■ letters’for you, yes.” . 'the woman nodded silently; next mo- ; rueiff, steadied by , his hand, she began worming her way out feet first with hardly li sound. Kurin turned when she wiki halfway through and with a screw- ■ driver eased back the flimsy door till a hairline of light appeared between its edge and' fhe'jUmb. Holding it so, he peered forth eagerly. Krom the vantage thus gained he , found he could command the length of the hall as well as a narrow strip of the lieavy door that, barred the way to the cellar. But it was on the other door, at. the far end of the - hall, that bis attention’, concentrated. Wooleroft was standing by it with ,his . baud on the latch, .and facing him a thick-set individual whom Kurin did not recognise. As Karin sighted them he saw the big man shake his head as though in doubt, and the other nod reassuringly. Then Woolcroft opened the hall door and the strailger slipped out; after which Wooleroft, leaving the hall lights still, on, strode down the passage towards him, brushed past the bicycle, pushed open the door that led to the cellar stair, and disappeared from his view ’ ' ■ ' ■ Karin., turned his head to glance behind him, but the small square of window was now blank. Marie Bressler had gone. " . ' Karin returned-at once to his survey of • the empty hall. Wooleroft had closed the stair door after him, and no sound tamo- up. Now- was his chance to get away—assuming, first, that the third •man whom Wooleroft had dismissed was net immediately returning.; and second- : ly./.that Wooleroft himself remained downstairs-, with Jakes iir the cellar—■both- of which propositions seemed de-', cidedlyjihazardous. The lighted hall sug-: gested no long stay downstairs; besides Which,“it was. not easy' to imagine any business which could detain the two nien' ■below. ' ’ . • . • 'Karin pushed out the little; door, half an iiieh. ■ The,result was disastrous. The bicycle, propped ’ nirne too steadily,.. slitheredjalcng the woodwork for a foot or more,' Kai in..-powerless to prevent it. It came; .to. rest’, at last, after a rasping progress; ;which . .seemed to scream'out' an alarm’ through' the echoing, empty housed. ■. For' a full half-minute, desperate at the. mischance,' Karin crouched, listening densely. . . ‘ , ' ; And then he- heard Arhat he, feared. A ffaint sound reached him, muffled by 'the .thick doop opposite, but increasing momentarily; footstep's; which once ■again came padding in haste; up those' infernal stdirs. • ' *'■ . ® When Wooleroft closed the door on him, Eddy Roper remained for a', few seconds-in' the porch till' his eyes grew used .to.. the darkness,''-.Out to his left along-the path, the drive-gate’was just not visible on account of the mist, though a blurred haze-,of lamplight farther off showed where .'the lane ran. If there was anything in Woolcroft’s suspicions—if Marie Bressler was about the premises, spying -dm his movements —she would no doubtphave placed her;telf where she could -watch the path. ■ Roper stepped from;, the porch on to a weed-grown flower bed. and, with his - back towards the road, worked round the riverward angle of the house and along the adjoining wall. The next corner brought him round to face towards the road again; but since the house and

I road tybre not quite parallel (the road I- here, swerving riyerwards to debouch. 'h'barythe lock) he. was already nearer to' the' garden fence than he had been a,t ’< *the;porch on the other side of the house; h and by the time he reached a point i; diametrically opposite to the porch—- ’ namely, the point at which the larder window' overlooked .the shrubbery—the s fence-top . was clearly visible. If Marie Bressler should be waiting there, he must see her in silhouette ■ against' the niist that veiled the- other side of the road,. If, as he thought more probable, she-were by. the gate, then he . bad only to. slip through ; theyshrubs and ■leok along, the'fence for. a sight of her? : r.; Mean while he had paused- a few feet’ ■ from, the Wall to peer up dubiously at■. . the'little empty-hole of tho-larder win-• dow.xTQo high for anyone to climb in, perhaps? Yet Woolcroft, occupying none. ' of the ground-floor rooms, was wont totkeep their, windows both latched and ■shuttered, and it seemed odd: that he. “ should have left that little casement to stand wide. Doubtless ah oversight, but ho would mention it to Woolcrbft when-

lie returned. < His more immediate job was to scout s for this woman if she were anywhere s about, which Roper. thought unlikely, i, A mare’s nest probably. Woolcroft had been as jumpy as a cat during these •> last few days, while the coup which he r planned to forestall Karin was nearing i its culmination. This present quest was a mere waste of time; in thought, he i cussed the unknown woman for the fuss c she had caused. , * * * # t It might have startled . Eddy Ropei > considerably had he known with what . heartiness his sentiments were at that moment reciprocated by the person oh whose spread fingers his foot rested as : he .stood, frowning up. at the hole. Marie Bressler,' dropping from the ; little,Window, had scarcely touched the ground .when the rustle, of a laurel bush warned her .of Rbper’s stealthy approach round the. angle of the house. There was no time to slip. away. She rolled beneath the nearest shrub, and there, lay motionless, not daring to move a ■ muscle, even when the skirt of Roper’s raincoat.'brushed* the back of . her head, an 7l his boot: descended on her hand. But in a second or two he moved softly on, picking his way among the shrubs towards the garden fence. No oho was visible on that part, of the lane, as he slipped through the privet hedge that lined the fence and peered cautiously up and down. The path and gate were now to the right of him; he could just discern the big square gateposts of stuccoed masonry. Beyond these ho could not sec, even had the mist been less, because of the slight curve of the road.

Ho backed behind the privet hedge again, and walked softly along the grass till he reached the drive. He stopped and listened there, but z the eerie silence of the night remained unbroken. Here by the inside of the massive post, he piused, would, be as good a place as any for his vigil— ; out of sight, commanding drive and grounds, nor liable to be challenged from the road by any passing; policeman. But first, it might be as well to check that stretch of lane which lay beyond the gateway. Flattening himself against the pillar, he slipped round the corner

of it and leaned out to peer up the road. And then Eddy Roper had the surprise of his life. ,